Why Hong Kong Wants Change

HONG KONG -- Trying to damp concerns that they are changing the city's succession laws at Beijing's behest, authorities in Hong Kong are promising a more democratic way of choosing the city's leader in 2007.

While the legalities of the government's actions have yet to fully persuade the city's constitutional experts, the politics, at least, are clear, according to acting Chief Executive Donald Tsang. Mr. Tsang told representatives of the foreign media yesterday that it is "politically desirable" for Hong Kong's...